Mercedes Marianna Vega

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2:20Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney, and this is Voices for Justice.

2:31Today I'm discussing the case of 22-year-old Mercedes Vega from Tempe, Arizona. I want to warn you that today's case is a horrific one, and the person or people responsible are still out there walking free. But when I saw this story and realized that almost no one was talking about it, I knew I wanted to help. When I spoke with Mercedes' mom, Erica, I knew I had to help. My daughter was burned alive. There was bleach in her throat. She was taken. She was on video camera. She was hit over the head. Her blood splatter and matter from her head. Her car was taken out of her parking garage. There are cameras.

3:16Her car was found by Mill Avenue. There are cameras all over the place. Figure it out. If I had the access, I would figure it out. If you're not going to solve it, then give me all the information you have because I will. Because I'm done. I am tired of this. It's bullshit. My kid deserves justice. I need to know who murdered my child and I need that person to pay for it. This is the case of Mercedes Vega. Mercedes Mariana Vega was a woman who knew what she wanted and how she was going to get it. Really, she'd always been this way. When Mercedes was just seven years old, she created a PowerPoint presentation to explain to her parents why they should take the family to Disney World.

4:03When she was older, she made another to explain why she should be allowed to get her first tattoo. In the spring of 2023, Mercedes was on track to achieving one of her newer goals, becoming a personal trainer. She worked out six days a week and followed a strict diet to prepare for her certification. But Mercedes did allow herself one cheat day a week to go out, have a good time with friends, and just not worry about all that. On Sunday, April 16th, 2023, just before 9pm, Mercedes is sitting in her apartment, texting some people about potential plans for her cheat night. It boiled down to going to play some games at Dave & Buster's, grabbing sushi, or just hanging out, presumably at someone's home.

4:45Now, Mercedes' mom, Erica, says that they don't know what Mercedes ends up choosing. Apparently, the final decision was made over the phone or FaceTime, because it just wasn't in her text messages. But based on Mercedes' outfit, Erica thinks that she was most likely going to Dave & Buster's. She goes for a cute but casual look. Ripped jeans, a black t-shirt, and white sneakers. At around 9.15, she leaves her apartment and heads to the parking garage of her complex. As Mercedes turns the corner into the garage, she's looking down at her phone. We don't know if she was FaceTiming someone, watching a video, or what she was looking at on her phone.

5:23But we know that she was looking down. That was caught on Surrealin's video and shared with the public. We basically see Mercedes turning the corner while looking down at her phone, and then the video just stops. I imagine because what happens next is extremely disturbing. After this, Mercedes is hit over the head and forced into a vehicle. That vehicle then leaves the parking garage. Four hours pass. Then, at about 1.15am on now Monday, April 17th, the fire department and officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety respond to a call of a car on fire on Interstate 10 near Tonopah. This is about 60 miles from Mercedes' apartment.

6:09Once the fire's put out, they discover Mercedes deceased in the backseat. Then, investigators from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office are called to the scene. In my interview with Erica, she explained that they were able to quickly identify Mercedes using her fingerprints. She believes this is because Mercedes held a Las Vegas Sheriff's card. It's essentially a work permit that's required for certain jobs in that city. They verify your identity, take your prints, and ensure you don't have any felony convictions. I actually had something similar here in Arizona when I worked with kids in foster care.

6:44We call it a fingerprint clearance card. But fingerprints are how they identified Mercedes, and her family is notified of her passing. Now, naturally, Erica wants to see her daughter. No matter what condition she's in, she's basically told that Mercedes' body is so burned that they won't allow it. You know, I didn't even get to see her after she died. They wouldn't let me see her. They had her zipped up, upside down, in a body bag with a heavy blanket on top of her. I didn't get a ring off of her finger. I didn't get a strand of her hair. I got nothing. Obviously, this is not only just horrific for Erica and all of Mercedes' family and friends, but Erica says it was also confusing.

7:35On one hand, they're saying that Mercedes' body is so badly burned that they can't allow her or anyone in the family to see her, but that her fingerprints are left intact enough that they're able to identify her using them. It doesn't make any sense. Her body was so burned, I wasn't allowed to see her. But you identified her by her fingerprints. This episode of Voices for Justice is brought to you by Quince. I love giving gifts, and Quince really does make that so easy. They have something for everyone, from soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters for$50 that look and feel like designer pieces, silk tops and skirts for dressing up, perfectly cut denim for everyday wear, and outerwear that actually keeps you warm.

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10:40They have very little information about her death, and they've been told that they can't see her body. And then, on top of all of that, things get even more confusing when Erica gets a call from the Tempe Police Department, telling her that she needs to move Mercedes' illegally parked car. And then I got a call from Tempe Police, almost as if... So I co-signed for her car. so he called and he was like ma 'am you can't park here and I was like what and I knew she was dead she'd been dead a day I think I had known for a day I didn't know I found out that she was found burning in a car I assumed it was her car at that time until I get a call from Tempe police this is how fucking discombobulated the Arizona law system is like law enforcement.

11:32My daughter was involved in a homicide. She was burned alive. And the Tempe police call me to tell me I can't park there. What the fuck are you doing? What are you doing? I'm like, is this a joke? And then I was like, my daughter, that's her car and she's dead. And he said, this is involved in a homicide? And I said, yes. And I said, where is her car? And then he wouldn't tell me. The police later tell the public that Mercedes' 2019 white Dodge Charger was found behind a very trendy restaurant, Culinary Dropout, right off Mill Avenue in Tempe. This is about a mile and a half south of her apartment, and in one of the busiest parts of the city.

12:21And I want to discuss that because I think it's really important, and it leads me to believe that the police must have more than what they're sharing. So let's break it down. Phoenix, Arizona is the fifth largest city in the United States, with a population of about 1.6 million people. Tempe is just the next city over. It's about a 15-minute drive depending on where in the city you're coming from. And Tempe is truly a college town. Of the about 184 ,000 residents, approximately 75 ,000 of them attend Arizona State University, specifically the Tempe campus. So it's just a very busy city filled with a lot of college students, and Mill Avenue, basically the next block over from where Mercedes Car was found, is the epicenter of nightlife for ASU students.

13:13Now I know this for two reasons. One, because I went to ASU, and two, because I was born and raised in Phoenix. Everyone knows about Mill Avenue. You either love it or you avoid it like the plague. Our local news, AZ Central, even created a guide to ASU nightlife centered around Mill Avenue. In it, they review 24 bars, clubs, and restaurants on Mill Avenue just between Tempe Town Lake and University Drive. It reads in part, quote, every college city has one, or at least every college city worth living in, the area to go for food, drinks, and nightlife that's close enough to campus, yet far enough away to forget about homework.

13:53In Tempe, near Arizona State University's main campus, Mill Avenue is that place. You can't walk one block along Mill without passing multiple bars, clubs, or restaurants. TempeTourism.com even has an entire section on their website centered around all the things you can do on Mill Avenue. And the reason I'm emphasizing this point so hard is because despite this, this, Mercedes' family is told that they have no idea who took Mercedes, how her car got to culinary dropout, or how she got in the other car found nearly 60 miles away. They don't even know the color, make, or model of the vehicle she was found in.

14:33Nothing. Or, as I always say, if they do, they aren't sharing that with the public or Mercedes' family. We know that they have surveillance of Mercedes being attacked, but only images of Mercedes are shared with the public. They have yet to release a photo or even a description of a possible vehicle or person involved in this crime. And again, this lack of information was not only concerning to Erica, but also confusing. I worked for Pinal County Sheriff's Office, and PCSO has license plate readers like at almost every intersection. So don't tell me that they don't have that in Tempe. Don't tell me that.

15:18So how did her car get to where it was? Where was she? I mean, follow the trail. Do something. When Erica began discussing license plate readers and investigators seemingly being unable to follow the trail of both Mercedes' vehicle and the vehicle she was later found in, I also found that pretty hard to believe. But my feelings are not fact, so I went down a rabbit hole. I wanted to figure out even just a rough estimate of how many cameras both of these vehicles may have passed by on the way to their destination. And Erica was right, the city of Tempe does have license plate readers, as do many major cities in Arizona, including of course Phoenix.

16:02There are also several traffic cameras that these vehicles would most likely have to pass by in order to make it to their destination. Now, of course, we don't know which route was taken, but there are only so many options. There's three main routes the killers could have taken to get from Mercedes' apartment complex, the Aubrey, to Culinary Dropout. And every single one passes by a traffic camera on the southwest corner of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway. Now, of course, they could have also looked up traffic cameras in the area and tried to avoid them, but even in taking a back route, they were very likely to pass by a traffic camera, not to mention all the surveillance from businesses and residents in the area.

16:45As far as the other, unknown vehicle getting to the I-10 near Tonopah, we just have no idea if they came directly from Mercedes' apartment or if they followed the charger to the culinary dropout. We really just have no idea what happened in those hours between Mercedes being hit and taken and her death. But again, there are only so many options. According to az511.gov, most of the traffic cameras we have in the state of Arizona are on our freeways. Again, it's very possible that Mercedes killers could have taken some type of back route to the Tonopah area, but we do know that she was found along Interstate 10.

17:23If they left from the culinary dropout or the Aubrey apartments and took the most direct route down the freeways, they would have passed over 50 traffic cameras along the way. But if they avoided the freeways and only took the back roads, it is possible that they could avoid each and every one of those cameras on their way to Salome Road near Tonopah where Mercedes was found. That's a lot, but now while we're here, let's talk about this area a bit. It is a really desolate desert area without a lot of services nearby. But the I-10, specifically on the way to California, is a very busy freeway. Which is why I imagine someone saw the fire and called it in so quickly.

18:04Quickly enough that Mercedes' fingerprints were still intact when they recovered her body from the vehicle after putting out the fire. So even if a license plate reader or a traffic camera didn't capture whoever did this, I still think it's very likely that someone saw something. And after going down this rabbit hole of license plate readers and traffic cameras, I began looking at other possible surveillance near the restaurant Mercedes' car was found at and her apartment. Like I said, these are both very popular areas of Tempe, so there's no doubt that many of these surrounding businesses, gas stations, restaurants, gyms, and other apartment complexes have cameras.

18:41But as far as Mercedes' parents know, police haven't been able to gather any surveillance from any of these businesses, or even personal security cameras in the area that show anything related to Mercedes. So I began to look at other options, and one really stood out to me. That's our rather new light rail system. Now, Arizona is kind of notoriously awful in terms of public transportation, so they spent a ton of money developing a new system that we call the light rail. It's kind of like a trolley mixed with a train, and you can take it to downtown Phoenix or Tempe, among other destinations. Unlike our regular bus stops, the light rail stations are fully lit and equipped with a ton of security cameras.

19:24And they aren't tucked away or really even covered. They're open air stations. And the light rail itself crosses over streets and at times will be running right alongside your vehicle. They basically move right alongside traffic in most cases. And again, we don't know the route that was taken that night. But we do know that from Mercedes' apartment complex to where her car was found, There are about 4-5 light rail stations in that 1.5 mile drive from the Aubrey to the Culinary Dropout. But just to be fair, let's say that whoever did this to Mercedes was a mastermind. They knew Arizona very well.

20:01They looked up all the cameras in the area to avoid them, and they took all the back routes to avoid being noticed as much as possible. They somehow avoided every security camera in the area. There is still another huge, unanswered question in this case. How did they get into Mercedes' apartment complex garage in the first place? In order to enter that garage, you have to have a card or some type of key fob, or somehow sneak in while another car was entering or exiting. And we know the Aubrey has surveillance cameras. So what am I getting to here? Well, after all this research, I can only come to one conclusion.

20:40The same conclusion as Mercedes' family. There is just no way that there is zero footage of whatever vehicle Mercedes left that parking garage in. And again, we don't know if that was her Dodge Charger or the vehicle she was found in. They could have walked in and forced her into her Charger. Or they could have brought this other vehicle and forced her into that. We don't know. We just know that two vehicles were involved. But whichever it was, there is definitely video of that vehicle somewhere. And while I have to understand the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is not releasing all that information to the public, what I can't understand is why after nearly a year now, none of that information is being used to invite the public to help identify the car or the person who did this to Mercedes.

21:26Not a single screenshot of the person driving that vehicle or the vehicle itself. Just those images we have of Mercedes. So her family just sits with this information. or really lack of information for quite some time, waiting for answers and waiting for the results of her autopsy report. This would take about six months to get to her family, and as it seems to be a theme in this case, the autopsy was nothing short of horrific and confusing. But this is what the medical examiner determined. Her cause of death is listed as conflagration, blunt force, and ballistic injuries. Her manner of death is homicide.

22:07The report reads, quote, Burned. Inhaled smoke. Blunt force. And shot. Bleach odor within larynx. Basically, Mercedes died from burns caused by inhaling smoke in the fire. She was literally burned alive. But the ME also found blunt force trauma and gunshot wounds that contributed. She was shot in her right arm from the front. It exited upward and to the right. The bullet was never recovered. She had a gash on the right side of her head, a scraped bruise on the back of her right arm, and an abrasion on the left side of her back. There was no trauma indicating sexual assault. However, there was bleach found in her throat.

22:50Bleach and gloves were recovered from the front of the car, and lighter fluid was found in the backseat. According to Mercedes' family, the toxicology report only showed marijuana in her system, No alcohol or drugs were present. While Tom has expressed that it brings him peace that Mercedes likely passed in her sleep, Erica can't help but wonder what type of fight Mercedes put up before her death, and has a theory about why the bleach may have been used. There's no way she didn't fight. She would not do something she didn't want to do. Somebody was forcing her to do something she didn't want to do.

23:29she had the sharpest teeth of anyone I've ever met she had a cavity once when she was little and the dentist was like I cannot get through her teeth we have to get a diamond drill because they're so hard they were like knives that's why I think there was bleach in her mouth I think she bit someone this episode is brought to you by eBay before all the algorithm fed blah and the endless sea of dupes, shopping used to feel more fun. Find that feeling again on eBay. It's not mindless scrolling, it's a fashion pursuit. And when you score that rare Adidas collab or the Dior saddlebag you've been manifesting, it's a rush.

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25:03And her family has become frustrated with the lack of progress and what appears to be a lack of an investigation. When I spoke with Erica, she told me that aside from the night they notified her of Mercedes' murder, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has never interviewed her or asked her any questions about Mercedes' life before her death. Not who she hung out with, if she was dating anyone. Nothing. They don't tell me anything. Like I said, the only time they ever even asked me a question was the night they came to tell me she was dead. They've not asked me one question about my child since the night that she died.

25:44Not one. This disturbed Erica so much that she took it upon herself to just give them information. She created a list of a hundred things they never asked her about Mercedes, like that she was left-handed and a natural blonde. But as of this episode airing, she has yet to sit down for a formal interview with investigators. And she, Mercedes' father, and Mercedes' friends are now doing what so many families in this position do. They're turning to the public for help. The stage for the November 2023 press conference for Mercedes was full. Her friends and family stood and sat shoulder to shoulder, some waiting their turn to discuss the hole her murder had left in their lives, others just there to show support.